1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to the field network services, such as digital subscriber line (DSL) services.
2. Background
Digital subscriber line DSL services, such as Internet access, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), Video-on-Demand (VoD), Voice over Internet (VoIP), etc. are provided to subscribers or customers by service providers utilizing a DSL communications network. A typical DSL network includes various servers that form a backbone for the DSL network. These servers receive, among other things, DSL content (such as video, voice and data) from various sources and transmit the DSL content to central offices (COs) located in different geographical areas. Switches, such as Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs), distribute the DSL content to a customer equipment, and establish a communication between the customer. A DSLAM typically contains a plurality (a few hundred) of ports, each providing a dedicated connection to a subscriber or customer interface equipment, such as a modem (also referred herein as the customer gateway). The dedicated connection is typically a hard connection, such as copper wires.
When a DSL customer encounters a problem (such as being unable to receive a particular service or the quality level of a service being below an acceptable level) and that the problem can not be identified and/or corrected from a service provider location, i.e, remotely, a service personnel (typically a technician) is dispatched to the customer site to identify and resolve the problem. The service personnel, depending upon the nature of the problem, may perform several tests, including single-ended (from the customer's end) electrical measurements, obtain information about the service gateway, obtain information about the electrical measurements made at the central office end, and perform double-ended tests that may utilize a second service personnel at the central office end. The service personnel utilize such information to fix the problem. Such methods typically utilize a variety of field test devices and tend to be manually intensive. Also, such methods do not provide access from the field to certain network performance data that can be obtained or measured at various network locations. Thus, it is desirable to provide a more efficient system and method that can analyze measurement data obtained at the various locations in the DSL network.